Filling the roles of judges, attorneys and jury members, the students will adjudicate cases that involve non-violent crimes. Defendants who are 18 or younger and have pleaded guilty to shoplifting, criminal mischief, vandalism and other offenses will be eligible to appear before the court starting in January.

"Our goal is to provide an alternative for defendants and also an opportunity for young adults to get involved in the criminal justice system," Supervisor Philip Barrett said. The town budgeted $3,000 in its 2014 budget for the court and does not anticipate increasing that next year, he said.

Planning for the youth court started several months ago. Training will start in the fall. The program will debut more than four years after a Saratoga County Youth Court administered by the Prevention Council of Saratoga Springs shut down due to a loss of state funding. The countywide program had cost $75,000 a year. County prosecutors diverted several hundred cases to the youth court over its 13-year history, District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.

"I think it was a very vibrant alternative to just a slap on a wrist in criminal courts because these were low-level offenses that resulted in little to no punishment," Murphy said. "In youth court, they had relatively significant sentences that fit the crime, and they faced restorative justice such as community service, apologizing to victims and fixing the mailbox they ran over."

There's significant value in a teenager being judged by those they know from school, the district attorney said. Murphy said his office would refer non-violent misdemeanor cases, but none involving domestic violence, sexual abuse or drugs, to the Clifton Park Youth Court.